SION COLLEGE LIBRARY: BERKELEY COLLECTION

An author catalogue of an unnamed collection. The latest book included was published in 1676. Based on a sample of titles, this is substantially a catalogue of books from the collection received by Sion College as the gift of George Berkeley (1626/7-1698), 1st Earl of Berkeley, part of which was given to Sion College in 1682 and part received in 1699 after Berkeley's death. On this collection see the description of Sion L40.2/E62. The collection was largely formed by his uncle Sir Robert Coke (1587-1653). See E.H. Pearce, 'Sion College and Library' (Cambridge, 1913), pp. 258-260. Many of the books listed here are recorded as having Berkeley provenance in William Reading's catalogue of Sion College Library published in 1724, although not all of these appear in Reading's list of the Berkeley bequest in the Sion College Book of Benefactors (Sion L40.2/E64). In the same hand as Sion L40.2/E62/3 [catalogue of books, almost all of Berkeley provenance]. The same hand is found in Sion L40.2/E113 and is that of a Sion College Librarian, probably William Nelson, Librarian 1682-1704. The catalogue may have been used as a supplement to the author catalogue of Sion College Library (Sion L40.2/E113). Although book sizes are not always given, this catalogue appears to record only quartos, octavos and smaller volumes, totalling roughly 500 vols. It may be a catalogue of part of the collection only. Folios (and some quartos) at Sion were kept in the chained section of the Library, while smaller books were kept on closed access, 'in archivis'.

Open